Saturday, October 10, 2009

Famous Indians Died in Air-Crash

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is a latest victim of air-crash. His Bell 430 chopper went missing over the jungles of Kurnool, and on next day the news broke that he was killed in this accident. Along with YSR, four others -- Dr P Subramanium, the special secretary to the Chief Minister; ASC Wesley, Chief Security Officer and two pilots Group Captain SK Bhatia and Captain MS Reddy -- died in the crash.

Haryana Agriculture Minister and Bansi Lal's son Surender Singh and noted industrialist and Haryana Power Minister O P Jindal were killed on March 31, 2005 in a chopper crash in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district.Pilot T S Chauhan died on the way to hospital. Two persons -- Ved Goyal, a relative of Jindal, and head constable Vinod Kumar -- who were also on board the chopper owned by the Rs 10,000-crore Jindal conglomerate, were injured in the crash.

Soundarya, actress (2004) - airplane crash near Bangalore

Popular South Indian actress and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Soundarya was among four persons killed in a plane crash at Jakkur near Bangalore on April 17, 2004.Soundarya was on her way to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh to campaign for her party when the four-seater aircraft crashed. The actress' brother Amaranath, who was travelling with her, also died in the crash.The aircraft, owned by Agni Aviation, crashed near the agricultural university campus on the fringes of the Jakkur airfield, charring the bodies of the victims, including the pilot, beyond recognition.Soundarya acted in several Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam films. She had won the national award in 2003 for the Kannada film, Dweepa.

Telugu Desam Party leader and then Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi died in a chopper crash March 3, 2002 in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The private helicopter in which Balayogi was travelling from Bhimavaram in West Godavari district crashed in a fishpond near Kaikalur in Krishna district. The Deccan Aviation helicopter, carrying Balayogi, his gunman and an assistant developed a technical snag after it took off from Bhimavaram. It hit a coconut tree before hurtling into a fishpond near Kuvvadalanka village. His additional Private Secretary K S Raju and the pilot of the chopper also died in the accident.

Madhav Rao Scindia, (2001) - airplane crash in Uttar Pradesh

He was a very senior Congress leader and a former cabinet minister, who was killed in a plane crash on September 30, 2001. He was travelling to Kanpur to address a public rally. Six people also lost their lives when the private plane carrying him went down near Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. The chartered plane, a 10-seater Cessna C-90 bearing the identifier VTE--F and owned by the Jindal Group, took off from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. The plane crashed around 85 km from Agra.

The governor of India's northern state of Punjab, Surendra Nath, and 12 others, were killed when a state government plane crashed in a mountainous region of neighboring Himachal Pradesh state, minutes after taking off f. The dead included nine members of his family. Surendra Nath was also the governor of Himachal Pradesh besides being the administrator of the union territory, Chandigarh.

Ashok Birla - industrialist, (1990) - airplane crash near Bangalore

He was noteworthy because he was a member of the Birla family. Grandson of Rameshwar Das Birla, grand nephew of Ghanshyam Das Birla, and cousin of the more successful Aditya Birla. He was on his way to cut the ribbon for the inauguration of the Birla-3M factory when the fatal accident happened. The Airbus A-320 plane never made the smooth landing at Bangalore airport.

Sanjay Gandhi - politician, (1980) - helicopter crash in Delhi

He was son of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was killed in a plane crash on June 23, 1980.Sanjay was at the controls of the aircraft, which caught fire shortly after took-off from the New Delhi Flying Club and crashed into a block of municipal apartments in south Delhi.His instructor, Subhash Saxena, was also killed in the crash.Witnesses said the pilot of the US-built two-seater appeared to lose control and the aircraft 'wobbled and fell'. Police initially identified the aircraft as a glider but later said it was a two-seater built by Pitts Co of Wyoming, US.

Mohan Kumaramangalam - politician, (1972) - airplane crash near Delhi

Mohan Kumaramangalam, minister of steel in the Indira Gandhi government, was killed in a plane crash in New Delhi in 1973.Kumaramangalam drifted away from the Communist Party of India after the party split. His quest for a new political identity coincided with Indira Gandhi's rediscovery of socialism in the late-1960s. Kumaramangalam became one of the principal advisers to the prime minister in her populist phase and assumed charge as Union minister for steel in 1971.

Noted nuclear scientist Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha was among the 117 passengers killed in plane crash on January 24, 1966. The Air India Mumbai-Paris flight AI 101, in which he was travelling, crashed on Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps on the border of France and Italy. Dr Bhabha was on his way to attend an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna. Bhabha was largely believed to be responsible for the introduction of the space program through the setting up of the Indian national committee for space research under the chairmanship of Vikram Sarabhai.

Subhash Chandra Bose, a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement against the British Raj in India, founder of Aazad Hind Sena. He and a general of the Imperial Japanese army Tsunamasa Shidei were reported to be flying to Tokyo, Japan when the alleged plane crash occurred at Matsuyama aerodrome in Taihoku, northern Formosa. Mystery over his death was discussed for many many years.